Kayce recently posted a new video at the top of her home page with the story of Star - a dog who was So aggressive during medical treatments that she was slated to be PTS. Go watch the clip! It's awesome!

This explanation seemed to help people on the Conditioned Relaxation technique so I am going to clean it up and post it.

Conditioned relaxation??

Very simple. You want to start slowly obviously, the same as anything else you do, but with this your dog should respond almost immediately. You will basically be giving your dog a massage. I started when we were watching TV or just relaxing. I would start rubbing and massaging Tommy's neck, just like I would do to a human. Once they start to loosen and relax or calm down, or whatever might show you they are responding, start giving a "que," I use "easy." When I do this to Tommy in class, he will immediately go from a whining, barking mess to sprawled out on the concrete with his belly up in minutes. Pretty remarkable.

Anyway, do this as often as you can, anytime a distraction happens outside, or they get riled up inside, even when they are about to go to sleep. The more you do it the better, eventually (after months, possibly years) you will be able to simply say "easy" and the dog will go into that mode by themselves.

The science behind it is that you are making the dog addicted. Yes, you really are. Adrenaline is a drug found in most animals, dogs will become addicted to adrenaline which is why so many dogs enjoy getting in fights, or barking their heads off. What conditioned relaxation does, is flood the brain with endorphines and seratonin which are "happy chemicals." This is what causes people to calm down and be happy, this is the chemical that drugs such as ecstacy flood human brains with. Your dog will eventually start enjoying being calm more then worked up and be able to change moods on command.

I have been having Paige lay on the bed with me while I watch a movie/tv at night.
I will gently massage her, until I feel her relaxing and softly repeating, relax, relax
last night she was on the sofa,I went to watch a movie/tv I called out Paige, "relax" and she flew onto the bed, flopped down beside me and immed pushed my hand as if to say, start my massage please.
I started massaging and she was instantly relaxed, turned into a ball of mush and drifted off to sleep soon after.
Normally, she flops around, walks over me, gets up and down, licks, scratchcs, snorts, jumps on and off the bed, jsut can't get her to settle down. Not last night!

Think of CR as simply teaching your dog the difference between tense muscles and relaxed muscles, and just accept that mental relaxation usually accompanies physical relaxation.

Kayce showed me how a slow, "kneady" massage, can induce a muscle to relax. Don't worry about using the exact, correct "technique". In my mind, it's correct when it works; and for different individuals it will be different.

So, try it first on your own forearm muscles, your deltoids, your biceps, your quads. Find the touch and pressure and motion that works for you. Also note how much pressure is too much (pain and unpleasant sensation will make you want to pull away or tense up). A mental picture that may help: shaping modeling clay with your hands.

Then, apply that to your dog. Find a meaty part on your dog that he doesn't mind you kneading (back of neck, deltoids, forearms, back muscles; avoid bony areas). Keep in mind that your dog may be more/less pressure-sensitive than you.

Learn to feel the difference between a tense muscle, a relaxing muscle and a truly relaxed muscle. Again, experiment this first on your own muscles; because you're going to have to "tell" your dog when his muscle is relaxing, and when his muscle is finally relaxed.

Learn to read your dog. Note the subtle changes in her tail set, ear set, softening of her eyes, her breathing. These, in addition to what you feel under your massaging hands, will tell you when your dog's muscles are relaxing (at which point you'll say "Easy ... xxxxxxx"), and when they finally relax completely (at which point you'll say "Easy ... X !").

By saying "Easy" just before the bridges (i.e. xxxxx and X), you're teaching your dog that the relaxed state is called Easy. Eventually you can ask your dog to be Easy, just like you can ask your dog to Sit, Down, Stay, etc ....

Stay aware of the fact that you're asking your dog to learn a very difficult skill, relaxation. Humans spend thousands of dollars on yoga and meditation classes, and some people still can't help but keep their muscles in a constant state of tension. So it may take your dog days, weeks, or years (as with my dog) to learn it well.

kristakmj wrote:so i have a question , i am really interested in trying this out, if you had to pick one book that was good for beginners what can you suggest? i gonna ask hubby for it for xmas

Bump.

I was pleasantly surprised that I do some of this already with miss maddie (on a very small scale). We do the touch using my hand or the end of a target stick..Now we have goals to work towards for 08.

Question I don't use a X, I use a clicker. Is using a clicker the same or should I use the X instead?

And we do some CR but I use Relax. I say that Maddie immediately lays down and shows me her belly. (not 100% of the time but we are working on that) .She gets a belly rub and her ears rubbed since they are full of nerve endings...Again, I will start to move to other parts of the body.

Question I don't use a X, I use a clicker. Is using a clicker the same or should I use the X instead?

You always have verbal bridges with you. Also, if you use the clicker according to the clicker trainer rules, set out by Karen Pryor in the early 90's, you will treat every click. This is a good way to create a rigid expectation of food in your dog, and perhaps impossible to live up to in real life, where you may need obedience where you don't have treats readily available. Having created this expectation (a treat for every click), your dog is likely to be upset with you, initially at least, in SATS.

We treat about a third of the terminal bridges, which gives us really good cooperation, whether we have food or not at any particular time,a nd does not create other problems which treating each click does create.

And we do some CR but I use Relax.

You might want to teach the command "Easy" as being the same thing as "relax". You might also want to add "calm", "chill", and "settle" or any other word that people might spontaneously use to communicate to your dog in case of an emergency (like in a vet office). However, for a single choice, we have tested it, and certified trainers throughout the world report that they prefer "Easy" because it comes out easier, when they are under stress.

akaspaddero wrote:...I don't use a X, I use a clicker. Is using a clicker the same or should I use the X instead?...

Here's my 2-cents for what it's worth ...

A clicker is an implement, a tool; Clicker Training is a method.
The x sound is an implement, a tool; SATS (or Bridge & Target) is a method.
What I've noticed in the posts is the confusion between the use of the words "clicker" and "Clicker Training".

Any tool can be used correctly and effectively, and any tool can be used incorrectly or even dangerously.

Let's say you lost your power of vocalization. Well, then go ahead and use a clicker to make the sound. Or a trumpet. Or a rattle. What's important is what you associate that sound with for the animal: food such as in Clicker Training, or information as in SATS.

What I find remarkable is that SATS has shown that my dog and my horses clearly prefer to be "fed" with information, to the point of seeking out the information before expecting a treat.

Also, any method that overly relies on treats (and so-called "high value" treats) is self-defeating: you end up corrupting/diminishing the value of each successive treat. Imagine if you were fed caviar / filet mignon / lobster (any favorite food) every meal; you'd soon stop regarding these foods as valuable or even desirable.

I have a quick question. Has anyone been able to teach the bridge WITHOUT using food or toy motivators? I'd really like to do it like that and I think I could, I guess I just want to hear that someone was able to do it without treats to give me a bit of a confidence boost that it can be done. I'd hate to try and take steps backwards instead of forwards.